Island of Lemurs: Madagascar takes audiences on a spectacular journey to the remote and wondrous world of Madagascar, where lemurs arrived millions of years ago as castaways. They’ve since evolved into hundreds of diverse species, but are now highly...

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Narrated by Academy Award® winner Jeff Bridges, Dream Big: Engineering Our World will transform how you think about engineering. From the Great Wall of China and the world’s tallest buildings to underwater robots and solar cars, Dream Big...

Experience being aboard a modern carrier at sea in the new giant-screen film Aircraft Carrier: Guardian of the Seas, premiering at the Fleet Science Center on Friday, November 10, 2017. This film is screening in California only at the Fleet Science...

Does toast always land butter-side down? What keeps you drier: running in the rain or walking through it? Can you really pull a tablecloth off of a fully set table without disturbing a dish? In this amazing hands-on exhibition, you can put these myths to...

Game Masters: The Exhibition showcases the world’s best video game designers, from the arcade era to today’s console and online games. And with 100+ playable games, it’s game on! (No quarters needed.)
The work of more than 30 designers who have made a...

Dream! Design! Build! Explore the Fleet's collection of engineering activities in Dream! Design! Build! This exhibition features the classic favorite Block Busters, the versatile Fit-a-Brick Build Zone and the newest addition to the engineering...

Explore the Fleet's classic collection of hands-on science exhibits, guaranteed to engage your mind and appeal to your senses. Located in the Fleet's Main Gallery, these interactive science exhibits may surprise you with new discoveries about the world...

Some people think video games are only good for mindless entertainment, but technology developed in the gaming industry is being used for everything from brain research to drug development to innovative therapies for stroke patients. On select Thursdays...

Young Scientists is a hands-on preschool science program offered by the Fleet Science Center. This program provides informal learning experiences that support and enhance exploration, create excitement and facilitate scientific discoveries.
The program...

Fleet Night of Science will be back in March 2018 with a big party to celebrate the San Diego Festival of Science and Engineering.
Until then, check out this special event:
Exclusive Private Screening of Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Find all the event...

The third Saturday of every month, early access to galleries 9-10 a.m. IMAX showing at 10 a.m.
The Fleet invites the Autism Spectrum Community to enjoy our museum through this special opportunity. Adults and families with children with autism can enjoy...

Stop by on Saturdays to play, innovate and solve problems with other curious minds in the Tinkerers’ Club, led by our in-house inventors. Take your invention home and share your creation and stories with friends. Supplies are limited. Advance...

Register now for Winter Camp 2017!
Looking for something exciting, fun and educational this winter break? The Fleet Science Center is offering two weeks of full-day science fun this winter! Grades 1–3 can enjoy a variety of fun, educational, hands-on...

In conjunction with the Center for Ethics in Science and Technology, the Fleet Science Center welcomes guests to encounter science from an ethical viewpoint. Held on the first Wednesday of the month, from October through June, this ongoing series brings...

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Join us on the first Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. or 8:15 p.m. for a tour of the solar system narrated by the Fleet’s astronomer. Journey through the cosmos with us as we explore a new topic each month.
For optimal viewing, each show is...

The Fleet Inquiry Institute (FII)

February 09, 2010

Updated: February 9, 2010

The Fleet Inquiry Institute

The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center established the Fleet Inquiry Institute (FII) in 2002 to improve science education in the formal classroom environment by offering professional development to 3rd-8th grade teachers. Through several grants, the Fleet has been able to externally evaluate its efforts and link teacher participation in FII professional development to increased student achievement. These results have provided the Fleet with the evidence that the inquiry-based pedagogy so fundamental to learning on the exhibit floor can support student learning in the classroom. Through community partnerships the FII works with teacher education students at the community college level, pre-service teachers, beginning teachers, and high school teachers. The Fleet Inquiry Institute currently offers a weeklong training in inquiry free of charge for K- 8th grade teachers each summer and winter.

Inquiry

Inquiry-based learning is an innovative teaching approach driven by the natural curiosity and wonder every child possesses. It begins when a student experiences something new or surprising that raises questions. Teachers begin inquiry lessons with a hands-on activity that allows students to experience a scientific phenomenon in action and react to it with spontaneous curiosity and questions. Those questions form the basis for further investigation, typically done in a small group setting, in which students interact with materials, make observations, propose tentative explanations, form test predictions and record their observations through writing or drawing. The activity culminates in a sharing of the understanding each group has arrived at, with the teacher/facilitator drawing upon the student findings to summarize the key science concepts covered in the lesson. As a result, the students learn not only science content, but the process of scientific inquiry – how to observe, how to form and test hypotheses and alternatives, and how to communicated what they have learned. An inquiry-based classroom is a lively, focused environment that encourages students to be imaginative, creative and responsible. Students who learn through inquiry become actively engaged in their learning and feel ownership of what they have learned and develop skills which lead to greater understanding, recall and achievement.

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About the Fleet Science Center

The Fleet Science Center connects people of all ages to the possibilities and power of science to create a better future. At the science center, you can explore and investigate more than 100 interactive exhibits that pique your curiosity and become immersed in an IMAX film adventure that shows the wonders of the planet—and beyond—in the Eugene Heikoff and Marilyn Jacobs Heikoff Giant Dome Theater. For young science enthusiasts, the Fleet hosts school field trips, science workshops and educational camps. For adults, we offer events like Fleet Night of Science and community events, such as Two Scientists Walk Into a Bar. In the community, we provide free neighborhood science events weekly through 52 Weeks of Science. Teachers are encouraged to join our Teacher Partner Program and take advantage of our professional development opportunities. Additionally, at the Fleet Science Center, visitors will find unique educational toys and games, books, IMAX DVDs and more in the North Star Science Store, and pizzas, sandwiches, salads and healthy treats in Craveology. Located at 1875 El Prado, two blocks south of the San Diego Zoo on Park Blvd., the Fleet is San Diego’s science center. Science starts here and opens a world of possibility. For information regarding current admission prices, please call (619) 238-1233 or visit our website at fleetscience.org.